Daily Archives: 28 July, 2017

360-DEGREE CAPTURE OPENS UP PEOPLE’S OPERA TO THE WORLD

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With the premiere of Roxanna Panufnik’s People’s Opera Silver Birch taking place this weekend, Garsington Opera is pleased to announce a ground-breaking digital partnership with BBC Arts Digital and Pinewood Studios which will see sections of the performance captured by 360-degree cameras and ambisonic microphones in a project entitled Person 181.

With 180 community participants performing in Silver Birch, alongside professional singers and orchestra, this partnership project opens up the experience of participating in a live performance to the online viewer: the 181st participant.

For the first time ever, full access will be granted to backstage areas, warm up sessions with the cast and, ultimately, the live performance.

“Garsington Opera is excited to be working in partnership with BBC Arts Digital and Pinewood Studios on this amazing project. Person 181 will extend the reach of Roxanna Panufnik’s People’s Opera to the world, using cutting-edge technology and innovative digital story-telling. We hope that the project will reach those who are unable to take part in creative projects, giving them a first-person experience of the amazing journey each of the community participants has been on to perform in Silver Birch” commented Johnny Langridge, Director of Development & Communications.

Silver Birch world premiere performances take place at Garsington Opera on 28, 29 & 30 July 2017. Person 181 will be available online via BBC Arts Digital free of charge from the autumn this year.

Garsington Opera’s thrilling new commission, Silver Birch, will feature over 180 participants from the local community aged 8-80, including students from primary and secondary schools, members of the local military community, student Foley artists under the guidance of Pinewood Studios and members of Wycombe Women’s Aid. Appearing alongside top professional singers and orchestral players, they will perform as dancers, singers, actors and instrumentalists. Garsington Opera’s Artistic Director Douglas Boyd will conduct. This draws to a close Garsington Opera’s 2017 season which has enjoyed record attendances and was 98% sold out.

Brighton Early Music Festival 2017

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BRIGHTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL: ROOTS – 27TH OCTOBER – 12TH NOVEMBER 2017

“If it’s Early Music you’re looking for, then get yourself down to Brighton”   Classic FM
 
Brighton Early Music Festival launched its programme for 2017 on Tuesday 25th July at Angel House – a beautiful Regency venue on Brighton’s seafront.  2017 explores the origins of some of classical music’s best-loved forms, and is the Festival’s biggest ever offering with over 30 events taking place this autumn.  Festival Co-Artistic Director Deborah Roberts says “this year’s programme is a fascinating journey through the early development of the musical forms we know and love today.  The oratorio, sonata, string quartet and opera didn’t spring into being fully formed, but grew organically out of earlier models, and of course there’s also the chance to explore the rich tapestry of folk music which humans have enjoyed for centuries.”
 
The 2017 festival has the title ROOTS with flagship events including two new opera productions – Monteverdi’s Orfeo and Rameau’s Pygmalion which ‘bookend’ the early period of operatic development.  Orfeo will be staged at The Old Market in Hove, in a new production by Thomas Guthrie featuring a cast of specially auditioned young singers headed by tenor Rory Carver as Orfeo, while Pygmalion is a new staging by Karolina Sofulak in collaboration with baroque group Ensemble Molière.
The Festival is well known for its championing of young artists through its scheme for emerging ensembles, Early Music Live! This year, many of the groups performing at the Festival have previously taken part in the Early Music Live! scheme, including the Consone String Quartet (28th Oct); Ensemble Molière (28th & 29th Oct); The Askew Sisters (2nd Nov); Ensemble Hesperi(4th Nov); Musica Poetica (pictured, 4th Nov); Ensemble Tempus Fugit (5th Nov); Chelys Consort of Viols (10th Nov) and theLittle Baroque Company (11th Nov).  BBC Radio 3 will record the performances by the Consone Quartet and Ensemble Hesperi this year for broadcast on The Early Music Show.  This year’s Early Music Live! participants, including York Early Music International Young Artists Competition prizewinners Rumorum, will present their programmes in a special showcase on 4thNovember.
 
Folk enthusiasts can enjoy performances by Old Blind Dogs with singer Siobhan Miller (collaborating with L’Avventura London, 27th Oct), and The Askew Sisters (2nd Nov), and families are also catered for with OAE TOTS concerts for pre-schoolers (pre-festival, 7th Oct) and Tales in Music: The Pigeon & The Albatross with the Little Baroque Company (11th Nov).
 
Tickets for all festival events (£5-£28) go on sale to Friends of the Festival on Monday 21st August, and on general sale on Monday 4th September at bremf.org.uk or 01273 709709.